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I’ve mentioned the International Tracing Service (ITS) numerous times, as a key resource to finding out information about WW2-era Latvian emigrants who spent the post-war years in Displaced Persons (DP) camps in Western Europe. Despite their important activities, I rarely see them get a mention anywhere.

I came across this initiative awhile ago, though I can’t remember where: “Latvieši Pasaulē – Muzejs un Pētniecības Centrs” (Latvians Abroad – Museum and Research Centre in English, LaPa-MPC for short).

Their goal is to create a museum in Latvia about the Latvian diaspora – Latvians who have left Latvia and settled elsewhere in the world, […]

In my last post, a reader requested that I talk about records after 1905. So here we go!

There are lots of different types of records available for the post-1905 period – however, as of right now, none of them are available online. The main online genealogical resource for Latvian records – religious records on Raduraksti […]

I first read about the International Tracing Service about a year ago when searching for more information about post-World War Two Displaced Persons Camps. According to their website, their history starts in London in 1943, as a tracing bureau for people missing due to war. After the war, they continued to work to identify and […]

Before I went to Latvia and started conducting my research in the archives, I was purely a genealogist. I wanted names, dates and places. While at the archives, a transformation occured: I became a family historian as well. Rather than spending most of my time stretching back further into history, I concentrated on finding out […]

I’ve mentioned previously that I am currently traveling in Europe. At the moment, I’m in Germany, and two days ago, I paid a visit to the Deutsches Auswandererhaus Bremerhaven – the German Emigration Center in Bremerhaven, a port from which 7.2 million emigrants departed for the New World between 1830 and 1974. This number included […]